Notes: Last chapter:D Actually there's an omake afterwards XD but I hope you enjoy this one. :D I actually really loved writing this one a lot. Also, I believe Atobe's driver actually ought to call him 'Keigo-bocchama', but nevermind that XD
Archive: No.
About Us
Chapter 15
By Miki
Atobe woke up with a crick in his neck. It was a kink about the size of a golf ball and it hurt as though he'd just been hit by one.
His legs were sore too; he'd been cramped into his chair for the entire night and though the cushions he'd propped his head up with were filled with the finest feathers and were covered with silk, they really didn't do much in the way of supporting the muscles in his neck properly. Not to mention the silk had made turned his hair slightly static and he could feel it sticking up in awkward tufts and strands. He supposed one had to take the good with the bad when he had such fine hair, but he still tried to pat it down as he sat up and looked around.
He almost felt disappointed to see the blankets on his legs, because it meant that someone – he wasn't sure who – had been in here and noticed him asleep, though they hadn't bothered to move him. Was it really too much to ask to simply carry him upstairs to his bed where he deserved to sleep, rather than leaving him here to tangle himself in knots in the chair?
He hadn't meant to fall asleep properly. The book he'd been sulking over was on the floor. He must have dropped it when he'd started dozing, trying to make the time pass faster before the guests would hurry up and leave the house.
He stood up and stretched, trying to work the pain from his muscles, turning his chin left and right and practising the exercises he'd been taught. It was rather bothersome having to call his physio so early on a Sunday morning, but he supposed he'd have to ask someone to do it for him. He wasn't about to spend the rest of the week with a crooked spine.
His clothes were wrinkled; bow tie still around his neck, though he had pulled the knot loose, and his shirt looking as though it had just come out of the washing machine.
He opened the door of the library, glancing up and down the hallway. At this time of morning, it was rare that someone wasn't awake, but as he crept back up to his bedroom, he didn't see anyone.
Even his father's cat, so often lounging around in one of the sitting rooms, was no where to be seen. Atobe couldn't help but despise the horrid animal for all of its awful white fur and for its claws – it had sunk them into him once as a child and he still hadn't forgiven it – yet he wondered where it could possibly have gone.
The coldness of the house itself almost made him feel a little lonely.
(S)
"Atobe-sama."
Atobe opened his eyes and stared at the floor. "Yes?" He recognised his driver's voice but he couldn't see why the man was interrupting his physio session. For goodness' sakes, was it really so hard to just leave him in peace and quiet for an hour?
His back was still feeling the effects of his night's sleep in the chair. The muscle spasms hadn't quite ceased, though the pain in his neck was fast disappearing.
"What?" he asked loudly, tired and having to force his voice above a mumble.
"You have a phone call on your mobile, sir."
Atobe twitched involuntarily, the hands massaging his back hitting a sore spot that sent sparks down his spine. "I don't want to hear about it," he snapped, in pain again. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"It's from a person called Yuu, sir. I thought you would like to know."
Atobe nearly yelped in pain as he sat up quickly, steadying himself on his knees but managing to aggravate the muscles in his back again.
"Give it to me," he ordered quickly, holding out his hand.
He ignored the surprised look from his physio and tried not to feel too silly, kneeling forwards on his knees on a treatment table, answering Yuuta's phone call.
He supposed it was natural that his driver realised Yuuta wasn't just anybody. He probably had a vague idea of what went on between the two of them, and considering the fact that he'd been there when Atobe had kissed Yuuta outside his house… well, Atobe figured he ought to be grateful in one sense for someone who could put two and two together and make four.
"Hello, Atobe spea-"
There was a clack on the other end of the phone and Atobe panicked. Had Yuuta already hung up? He pulled the phone from his ear and glanced at it, but the call was still connected.
Yuuta was already talking by the time Atobe put the phone back to his ear.
"…be-san…? I… want to see you. Where are you now?"
Atobe frowned, not bothering to try to hide the fact he was in a hurry as he got off the table quickly and hitched his track pants up back above his hips. He'd pushed them down to give the physio better access to his lower back, but he really had no intention of carrying on his conversation in the room and it would have been inappropriate to walk out of the room without covering himself up.
He stepped out into the hallway quickly, glad for the fact that it was a Sunday and this clinic only operated for half a day. It meant there were less staff hanging around looking for something to do.
Yuuta's voice sounded strained and odd. Atobe couldn't think of any reasons why though. Why did he sound stressed? They hadn't arranged to meet at all so it wasn't as though Atobe was late to see him, and wasn't he supposed to be at home anyway? Why was there so much background noise?
"I'm at the physio's," Atobe answered, walking down the hallway a little. There were offices further down so he kept his voice low, less out of consideration than because he didn't want people overhearing his conversation. "Where are you? I thought you were at home this weekend."
"I… I was."
"Yuuta?" Atobe questioned. He was cold all of a sudden. He ought to have put on his shirt, but that would have taken too much time and he might have missed answering Yuuta's call.
He thought he heard a sniffle on the other end of the phone and he paused in his movement, pressing the phone closer to his ear and frowning. "Yuuta?" he asked again. "Where are you?"
"Huh?" Yuuta said, sounding as though he'd lost himself for a moment. "I'm just in town. I mean, I'm at Bacci. Can you come and meet me here?"
Atobe turned and walked back up the hallway. "Sure. Now? I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"I'll wait for you then."
Yuuta hung up without another word.
Atobe debated calling home for a moment. He'd come out of the house only intending to see his physio and no one else. There was nothing particularly wrong with seeing Yuuta while he was wearing track pants and a hooded sweater, but he'd have preferred to be a little more dressed at least. He cursed himself for not wearing something decent and bringing his track pants to change into, yet he knew he didn't really have time to lament over it.
Bacci was the café he often went to with Kabaji; the place he'd been at when he'd first noticed Yuuta. It was a bit of an odd café in some ways; the name was Italian but the food was a mixture of different Western traditions and had Atobe not liked their breakfasts so much, he might have been incensed that the waiters had trouble explaining the difference between a pancake and a crepe.
It was only about ten minutes away though and Atobe had told Yuuta he'd be fifteen.
He walked back into the room, excused himself from the rest of his appointment as he pulled his shirt and sweater back on, spent a few minutes fixing his hair in front of the mirror and had his driver fix up his account.
He crossed his legs in the back of the limousine, jiggling his foot restlessly as he wondered what on earth Yuuta sounded so strange for. It wasn't that Atobe wasn't happy to see him; he'd been wanting to see him for what felt like ages, but he didn't like Yuuta's tone of voice. He'd sounded upset, and being unhappy wasn't something Atobe associated with Yuuta.
He might have grumpy patches, and on the odd occasion he did actually look as though he was sulking or as though he was about to lose his temper, but he never sounded upset.
He was standing outside the café; instantly recognisable in a white polo shirt and a pair of shorts, his tennis bag slung over one shoulder.
Atobe narrowed his eyes as the car approached, trying to make out the expression on his face.
"Don't bother parking," he instructed, realising his driver was about to drive past the shop front in order to be able to stop.
Atobe opened his door as soon as the vehicle had come to a stop, walking between two parked cars to get to the kerb where Yuuta was waiting.
His nose looked a bit pink, Atobe realised.
(S)
Yuuta watched the limousine coming to a stop. The noise of the streets and of the traffic was lost on him as he stared straight ahead, trying not to meet Atobe's eyes as he got out and shut the door.
He felt almost sick with nervousness and a kind of dread, working its way up from his stomach to his chest and throat. He'd been waiting for more than five minutes now, and he'd thought over what Oshitari and Mukahi had said, as well as what Kamio, Ibu and An had been talking about, and the tiny speck of doubt in his mind had snowballed completely.
He almost expected Atobe to just confirm what he was thinking; that he hadn't ever taken any of this seriously, that he already had a girlfriend, that Yuuta was just… just what? A whole lot of curiosity gone wrong?
Atobe's clothes surprised him though, and he ended up staring, just like he'd told himself he wouldn't do.
"Have you been waiting long, Yuuta?"
Yuuta swallowed. "Not really."
Atobe stepped closer. Yuuta seemed to be avoiding looking him in the eyes and Atobe could see a slight pinkness to his eyes, which made him wonder if Yuuta had been crying. He lifted up his hand to touch Yuuta's shoulder, but Yuuta stepped away quickly instead.
"I want to go to the park. Is that okay with you?"
Atobe nodded, pulling his hand back quickly, a feeling of apprehension growing inside him. Yuuta's tone was cold but his voice still sounded the same as it had on the phone.
Atobe suddenly wondered if he'd said anything to Yumiko yesterday, and yet he could only pull blanks. He couldn't remember having talked about Yuuta much since she'd mostly just asking him personal questions instead, but he didn't know why else Yuuta would be acting so strangely.
Was it something to do with Mizuki? Something to do with tennis perhaps?
Atobe wanted to ask him, but he bit back the question, watching Yuuta carefully instead. He was quick to turn and start walking towards the park and Atobe had to follow him, never having been to the parks around here before. They were public parks and not terribly convenient for him anyway.
The park was close by. Atobe almost wondered why he hadn't ever noticed it there before, though he supposed he really had no reason to.
"Did you have training this morning?" he asked, trying to start a conversation.
Yuuta was silent, shuffling his bag as though in recognition of the question, but he didn't bother answering.
Atobe frowned, slightly annoyed.
He'd waited for long enough to see Yuuta, he could at least make an effort to be civil, even if he was annoyed about something, couldn't he? Yuuta was making him feel awkward, trailing after him and not knowing what he was thinking, and it wasn't as though it was something he had done.
They passed through the gates of the park, Yuuta pausing and looking around for an empty space.
Atobe pushed a hand into his pocket, unsure what to do. Had Yuuta been anyone else, he probably would have snapped already, but the look on Yuuta's face almost gave him a feeling of not wanting to know what was wrong, just in case it really was something to do with Yumiko, because as much as he knew Yuuta grumbled about his siblings, he knew where Yuuta's loyalties lay and it made him feel strange and jealous and silly.
"I… want to ask you about something," Yuuta said, glancing at Atobe's face for a moment and then looking away again.
Atobe's heart lurched, the fingers of his right hand fiddling with the inside of his pocket. Yuuta looked serious; a look of earnest concentration on his face as though he didn't really know what it was that he wanted to say and it worried Atobe.
"The thing is…" Yuuta started, "I… I don't know what we're… doing," he said, mumbling his words, looking up and meeting Atobe's gaze. He rubbed at his arms, crossing them even though it wasn't anywhere near cold and they were standing in the sunshine.
Atobe stared at him, not understanding what he was saying. "What do you mean, you don't know what we're doing?" he asked, frowning in confusion. What did Yuuta mean by that?
Yuuta frowned. "I mean I don't know what's going on," he said louder. "I mean, with you… with us… You know what I mean, right?"
"What do you mean… I don't… know what you mean," Atobe repeated helplessly, confused and almost not wanting to understand the words Yuuta was saying. They were dating, weren't they? Was that what Yuuta meant? Had Atobe missed something somewhere? What on earth was Yuuta talking about?
"I thought we agreed we were dating," he said, trying not to stumble over the word. It was embarrassing saying it somehow.
He could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks even as Yuuta looked at him sharply. "Are we?" he questioned, his voice suddenly acquiring a hard edge.
Atobe was taken aback.
"How can we be dating?" Yuuta questioned louder, his hands suddenly scrunched into the sides of his shorts. "I heard-" he started. Then he looked away, dropping his eyes. He swallowed hard, nearly swallowing the next few words. "I heard you already had a girlfriend, so what does that make me?"
Atobe felt as though he'd just been slapped.
His mouth refused to move; his body too, just stood still even though he wanted to form the right words; say the right thing; ask Yuuta why on earth he'd think that, where he'd get the idea from, why he doubted him. Why did he doubt him? Why…
Yuuta stared stubbornly at the ground, refusing to look at him again. He kept his arms crossed in front of him until his bag slipped from his shoulder and he moved to drop it on the ground.
Atobe watched him move, desperately trying to work out what he should say; what he needed to say. The words were just jumbled in his head though – a mixture of denial and shock and frustration and hurt. Hurt because he didn't understand why Yuuta didn't trust him and hurt because he couldn't understand where Yuuta would get an idea like that from and why he'd believe it. Hurt because it meant Yuuta didn't even understand how much Atobe actually liked him. Hurt because he hadn't liked someone like this for so long and hurt because he thought Yuuta should have known it.
He should have understood how Atobe felt. He ought to have understood.
Atobe didn't like just anyone. How come Yuuta couldn't understand that?
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Yuuta asked, his voice quiet.
Atobe picked up a waver in it and he stared, trying to see the look on Yuuta's face, but Yuuta was still looking at the ground.
"What do you want me to say?" Atobe asked. He didn't know what else to say. He couldn't understand how he was supposed to defend himself when he couldn't even understand what he'd done for Yuuta to accuse him of something like this.
"I don't understand where you'd get an idea like that," he said, trying to get himself to feel anything – anything but hurt. He wanted to be angry with Yuuta, but he just couldn't. He just felt empty.
Was he the only one who'd thought they'd actually understood each other?
"What do you mean, where I'd get the idea," Yuuta spat back. "It's true, isn't it? I didn't just make it up, you know! If it's not true, why don't you say something?"
Atobe closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair, tilting his head back. He could feel a hot kind of swelling in his chest; something he hadn't felt for a while. His throat felt hot and his legs felt numb.
"I don't… It's not true," he said weakly. What else could he say? "I like you."
Yuuta looked at him and Atobe realised he looked as though he was trying not to cry. "Well tell me why everyone else thinks you have a girlfriend then," he managed to get out, biting the inside of his lip.
"I don't know," Atobe groaned, rubbing at his forehead with a hand. "There's only…"
He stopped. He wanted to say Yuuta was the only person he liked. Then he paused, trying to tell himself to think things through logically. He rubbed at his temple, stressed and under pressure and acutely aware of the fact that Yuuta was suddenly sniffling.
"Here," he said, pulling a tissue from his pocket and handing it to him.
"I don't need it," Yuuta snapped, sniffling again and trying miserably to hide the fact that his nose was running.
Atobe tried to get his voice to come out clearly; tried to project it so he didn't sound so much like a kid who had no clue why he felt so upset and hurt and lost. Like a kid who couldn't understand why his castle of sand had just collapsed.
"I'm only seeing you," he said, trying to think back over the past few weeks. "I'm only seeing you and I'm not lying… Why can't you believe me?"
Yuuta bit his lip. "But how do I know you're not lying?"
"Do you trust me?"
Yuuta tightened his arms around himself. "I don't know. I think so, but… I've heard other things…"
"From who?" Atobe snapped, anger finally flaring.
"Does it matter?" Yuuta snapped back, incensed. Why was Atobe trying to play him for a fool? Did he really think he was that stupid? That gullible? That he was going to let himself be made fun of?
The look on Atobe's face scared him for a moment though. He almost felt his resolve waver under it.
"I heard it from… From Oshitari and Mukahi and from Tachibana An… and Ibu and Kamio…" he said, finally getting out the names. He stared at Atobe, needing to gauge his reaction.
Atobe looked stunned.
"You heard… that I had a girlfriend?"
Yuuta rolled his eyes angrily, trying to ignore the lump that was welling up in his throat all over again. The longer this went on, the more he felt like an idiot. People were probably staring too, and god forbid anyone he knew saw him here like this.
"They said you've been going out for months," he continued. "They said you're serious about her and that you went on a date yesterday, at the time you told me you were too busy to meet up with me," he spat out.
Atobe's reaction wasn't what he expected at all.
"Huh?" he blurted out loudly.
Yuuta knew it. That was it. It was true; Atobe's expression said everything, as though he'd just been caught out. "See?" he said, reaching down to pick up his bag. "I don't really care whatever we were doing before, but I don't want to see you anymore so…"
"Yuuta."
"What?" he snapped, hand on his bag strap.
Atobe stared down at him, a look of exasperation on his face, his hand grasping at tufts of his hair.
Yuuta looked up at him, remembering for a moment why he liked Atobe so much. He bit the inside of this lip again, trying to tell himself to forget about it. He wasn't about to keep on liking someone who couldn't even be honest with him. Someone who was so damn annoying and self-centred and selfish and so horribly egotistic and so spoilt and so far removed from everyone Yuuta had ever called a friend before – someone who was so horribly used to getting his own way and taking what he wanted and someone who made him feel so strange and unsure of himself and so hot from the inside out and so… so unlike anyone else.
He shook his head, as though trying to shake the thoughts from his head, and picked up his bag, preparing to walk off.
"Yuuta, wait," Atobe said, his voice louder and stronger this time.
Yuuta didn't want to hear it.
"Yuuta. That was your sister."
"Huh?" Yuuta blurted out, his bag falling off his shoulder. "What are you talking about? What was my sister?"
"The woman I was with yesterday… At the café," Atobe insisted. "Yumiko – I was with your sister Yumiko yesterday afternoon because she wanted to talk to me about you," he rushed on, trying to explain everything. "I saw Mukahi and Oshitari yesterday while I was with her. That must be it."
Yuuta blinked, his brain trying to absorb the information Atobe was throwing at him suddenly. "But…"
His head was spinning. "But that wasn't… But I heard them talking about your girlfriend ages ago…"
Atobe scowled. "Who? Who's my girlfriend then? What would those two idiots know?"
Yuuta swallowed. He hadn't ever heard a name. "I don't know," he admitted quietly, ashamed.
He wanted to believe Atobe so badly… He just… was afraid of believing him.
Atobe huffed, frustrated. "I told you, Yuuta. You're the only person I like."
Yuuta closed his eyes, rubbing at them with the tips of his fingers awkwardly. He wanted to hear Atobe say it again. Maybe if he said it again, Yuuta could try to wipe Oshitari and Mukahi's words from his head, and stop thinking about what Ibu and Kamio had said… Stop thinking about Atobe with someone else and stop worrying that what they said was true. Stop worrying that he didn't know what was going on and that he was just being played with. Stop worrying that if he liked Atobe like this, he was going to end up hurt.
"But I don't…" he trailed off helplessly.
Atobe said the girl they'd seen him with was his sister. It almost added up with what Ibu and Tachibana An had said, but then what had Mukahi and Oshitari been talking about the first time Yuuta had heard of it?
"I don't know what Mukahi and Oshitari said to you, but they were wrong," Atobe said, as though reading Yuuta's mind. "And I was with your sister yesterday afternoon and you can ask her right now if you want."
Atobe pulled his phone from his pocket, but Yuuta winced, reaching out to hold his wrist to stop him from dialling the buttons. "It's okay…"
Atobe huffed. "It's not okay."
Yuuta sniffled, almost smiling at the irritation in Atobe's voice. God, he sounded so… so pompous sometimes.
"I…" he swallowed. "I believe you."
He didn't really know if he meant the words. He wanted to, but he couldn't help the tiny bit of lingering doubt in the back of his mind. He still couldn't understand why Atobe would bother liking someone like him when it seemed like he could have anyone else, or even nobody at all… and it bothered him.
Atobe hesitated, watching Yuuta sniffling again. His nose was running again and Atobe couldn't really blame him. The anger he'd felt a few minutes before had faded into a feeling of warmth throughout his body. He still couldn't understand why Yuuta had jumped to the conclusions he had, yet a part of him realised it was perhaps his own fault.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, stepping closer again.
This time Yuuta didn't step away, though he did flinch a little as Atobe touched his hands to his shoulders. Instead of letting him go though, Atobe pulled him closer, not caring that Yuuta stumbled and squirmed, protesting.
"Yuuta," Atobe said, after a moment.
Yuuta stopped trying to push him away. "What?" he mumbled, cheek pressed against Atobe's shoulder.
"Pick a number between one and two hundred."
Yuuta was caught off guard, trying to figure out how numbers were related to their conversation.
"I…" He'd been about to say he didn't know, but he sighed and closed his eyes instead. He wondered who was walking past them right now. Had anyone he knew seen him like this? Seen him with Atobe? Did he really care right now?
He suspected the answer was no.
Atobe was warm. He smelt a little like cologne, though perhaps it was just the product he used in his hair, or perhaps his hair shampoo. It was a nice smell though. Yuuta supposed he smelt like sweat, but Atobe didn't seem to care.
"Yuuta, number," Atobe prompted again.
"Uh… a hundred…" Yuuta paused. "A hundred and seventy three… Why?"
Atobe didn't answer, but Yuuta felt his fingers in his hair a moment later.
A moment after that, he also felt his nose running again and he sniffed, knowing that letting it drip on Atobe's brand name sweater really wouldn't go down well.
"Um… Can I have that tissue now?"
Atobe reluctantly let go of Yuuta, fished his packet of tissues from his pocket again and handed it to Yuuta, looking away as he blew his nose and rubbed the backs of his hands against his eyes.
"Why a hundred and seventy three?" he asked.
"Uh…" Yuuta wondered if it was obvious he'd been crying. He'd only cried a tiny bit. Hardly at all, but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. "I don't know. Why do you need a number?"
Atobe straightened up, stretching his arms. "No reason," he smiled.
Yuuta stood awkwardly, looking at him. "Okay," he said, and picked up his bag.
"So are we all sorted out?" Atobe asked.
Yuuta felt his cheeks turning pinker than they already were. "Yeah," he grumbled, trying not to look at Atobe.
"I'm sorry," he apologised again.
Atobe peered at him closely. "You… Do you like me, Yuuta?"
Yuuta gave a wary nod.
"Then don't apologise," Atobe said, and they walked back to the café together.
(S)
"Okay… Lastly," Atobe said, eyeing Jirou with a slight smile, "after practice today, we're going for ice cream."
Jirou grinned back at him. "At the usual place?" he asked, looking eager.
He fiddled with his racquet, a bundle of excited and happy energy since he'd just woken up from a nap and was eager to get out and play tennis. The rest of the regulars looked bored of standing around, though they'd only been listening to Atobe read Sakaki's plan for just a few minutes.
Atobe nodded, running his finger down the list of items in front of him to check if he'd missed anything.
"Ah… That's right," he paused, tapping his finger at the last item on the clipboard, something he'd added on after receiving the plan from Sakaki-kantoku. "Oshitari and Mukahi."
Gakuto gave Atobe a slightly curious look. Oshitari merely smirked at him. "Yes, Atobe? Is there something you'd like to inform us of?"
Atobe twitched in irritation, and then gave a controlled smirk. "Indeed, Oshitari. I'm informing you that you'll be running laps for the entirety of today's practice as penalty for interfering in personal matters which you needn't have stuck your noses into and which-"
"What did we do?" Gakuto asked loudly, snorting.
Atobe smiled. "It's not about what you did, it's about what you're going to do."
Shishido looked rather smug beside Ootori, but Atobe ignored the look on his face, knowing Shishido didn't actually know what Gakuto and Oshitari were getting their punishment for. He wasn't about to tell him either.
"One hundred and seventy three laps, you two. That's all. And please make sure you're finished by the time we finish practice. I expect you to come out with the rest of us for ice cream."
(S)
"Why do we have to hurry?" Ootori whispered to Kabaji.
Kabaji didn't answer, though Jirou did.
"I think we're meeting someone," he answered, awake for once in the backseat of Atobe's limousine.
Atobe pretended he couldn't hear the conversations going on next to him. Oshitari and Gakuto, of course, were being slow about running their laps and were still going.
They'd have to walk to the ice cream parlour, not that Atobe cared. He figured that after the mess they'd caused, which he still hadn't quite gotten to the bottom of – though he had his suspicions about where it had originated – they could keep running for the rest of the week, as far as he was concerned.
"Meeting someone?" Ootori whispered back to Jirou. "Meeting who? Aren't we all here?"
Jirou cast a glance at Atobe, deciding to keep his mouth shut. "Secret," he smiled, wriggling impatiently in his seat and smiling. "I'll give you a clue though."
Shishido leaned against Ootori. "Clue? Okay?"
"It's someone you think you know, but you don't know," he grinned, amused. "Oh… and… say cheese."
Atobe cringed, resisting the urge to hide his slight smile.
(S)
The waitress led them to their table, having reserved one of the larger ones by the window.
Atobe looked almost disappointed when he saw it.
"Something wrong?" Shishido asked.
It felt odd without Gakuto and Oshitari here. Usually Gakuto would be clamouring to get the best seat; the one facing the window at an angle so he could watch the people going past. Instead, the five of them – Jirou, Ootori, Kabaji, Atobe and he – just stared at the chairs. There were eight set out.
"Isn't that one chair too many?" Shishido asked loudly.
"We're meeting someone, remember, Shishido-senpai?" Ootori whispered.
Atobe sat down at the chair with the best view of the window. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he questioned.
Kabaji sat down next to him and the rest of them followed.
"So… uh…"
Atobe ignored Shishido.
Ootori hushed him again, and Jirou just proceeded to muse about the menu, aloud.
(S)
"There's something wrong with Atobe," Gakuto grumbled, half out of breath as he ran along the footpath.
"Tell me about it," Oshitari grumbled back, for once abandoning witty retorts and his usual sense of humour in favour of whingeing with his friend.
They hurried along, halfway to the ice cream parlour when they recognised a familiar figure peering into a shop window. Atobe forgotten, they watched as the figure stepped back and happened to glance their way, glasses glinting.
"Isn't that Seigaku's Inui?" Gakuto asked.
"It is," Oshitari smirked. "I wonder what he's doing here."
Gakuto grinned. Stirring up trouble with Atobe was no fun these days. They needed someone new to amuse themselves with.
"Seigaku's Inui! What are you doing here?" he asked as they slowed to greet him.
(S)
Shishido glanced at Atobe, but he seemed busy staring out the window, so he picked up another of the table's menus and flicked through it, bored. He knew he'd just choose the same flavours he always chose and Ootori would probably choose his usual chocolate mint or strawberry swirl, so looking at the menu was a little pointless.
He glanced at the window as a blur rushed past it; someone in a rush to get somewhere, he supposed. Then he heard the shop's bell jingle as the door swung opened and Atobe stood up.
Shishido closed his menu. He hadn't noticed Gakuto and Oshitari coming in, so he turned his head to see a boy with mouse-brown hair approaching their table, looking a bit out of place in a St Rudolph uniform.
He frowned, the face vaguely familiar though he couldn't quite remember why.
"Yuuta," Atobe smiled.
Ootori looked as though he was going to fall off his seat.
"Hi… Atobe-san…" Yuuta smiled back, his eyes darting to the table full of Hyoutei regulars as he swallowed back his nervousness.
"I thought maybe you got lost," Atobe teased.
"I didn't," Yuuta retorted, snorting.
"You got lost in my house," Atobe reminded him.
Yuuta flushed pink. "That was different," he frowned. "Your house is like a maze, you know."
Jirou was beaming, Shishido noted. Ootori was hanging onto the edge of the table. Kabaji looked totally nonplussed, and Gakuto and Oshitari were racing in the door, late.
Shishido secretly hoped that would earn them even more penalty laps next practice.
Atobe noticed them coming in and paused, hand touching Yuuta's arm as they stood next to each other. Giving a raised eyebrow to the two latecomers, he pointed to two of the empty seats at the table from where he stood, his point perfectly clear. Opening his mouth to speak, he paused, suddenly realising he wasn't quite sure how to introduce Yuuta. He'd practised it last night, of course, once he'd decided that meeting the rest of the Hyoutei team would probably happen sooner or later, but in practice it was harder than in theory.
Yuuta solved the problem for him, removing his arm from Atobe's grasp and instead linking their fingers together.
Atobe felt all the blood in his body rushing to his face and even Yuuta's ears had gone pink.
He cleared his throat, daring anyone at the table to say anything.
"This is Fuji Yuuta," he settled for. Plain and simple. "We're uh…"
"Yuu-chan? As in, the Yuu-chan?" Gakuto blurted out, looking very much like Ootori.
Atobe's temper flared. "Of course!" he snapped loudly. "And he's not Yuu-chan to you, Mukahi Gakuto! His name's Fuji Yuuta so learn it."
"I thought Yuu-chan was a girl," Gakuto protested. "Isn't Yuu-chan a girl? What happened to your girlfriend, Atobe?"
Atobe shot him a withering glare.
Yuuta could only let his mouth fall open, blatantly staring in shock.
There was silence at the table before Jirou grinned again, kicking his legs and fiddling with his menu. "Hi Fuji-kun. You remember me, don't you? I remember we met a few weeks ago in town."
"Hi…" Yuuta returned weakly.
If Atobe was still annoyed about their misunderstanding the day before, it didn't show. He squeezed Yuuta's fingers and Yuuta squeezed back, the two of them a bundle of nerves standing next to each other and feeling nervous and worried but okay.
"Sit down, Fuji-kun," Jirou grinned, waving a menu.
"Yes, sit down Yuu-chan," Oshitari smirked, apparently recovering from his shock a lot more quickly than his doubles partner.
Yuuta glanced at him uncertainly but let go of Atobe's hand and sat, Atobe following him and taking the spot next to him.
"I'm really rather curious," Oshitari said, leaning across the table, his elbows resting on its surface, his chin on his hands. "Why don't you tell us how you met?"
"And why would you want to know something like that?" Atobe replied coolly, waving his hand for the waiter passing by.
Oshitari grinned like the cat that got the canary. "Oh, I don't know," he replied casually. "I might just want to find a Yuu-chan of my own, you know?"
Yuuta felt Atobe's hand touching his leg under the table. He linked his fingers with Atobe's again, the palms of their hands together, nervous energy making him want to hold onto something to steady him. There was a feeling he couldn't quite describe building within him and he only knew it came from being with Atobe, simply just being the person next to him.
He'd realised something the day before, and he realised it again as they sat together, surrounded by Atobe's team mates with their mountains of ice cream; Jirou slurping at a milkshake and Ootori and Shishido eating bits of each other's serves of ice cream, Kabaji silently working away at a pile of chocolate covered fruit and ice cream, Gakuto blatantly staring and asking questions, which Oshitari just seemed to find increasingly amusing.
When he picked up his spoon to dig into his ice cream, Yuuta's elbow touched Atobe's arm, and they glanced at each other, an embarrassed look on Yuuta's face and an inquisitive one on Atobe's.
The words went unspoken between them and Yuuta turned his attention back to his ice cream, hurriedly shoving a large spoonful into his mouth.
Atobe smirked when Yuuta ended up screwing his face up, his teeth cold and his mouth frozen. Yuuta kicked his leg under the table and Atobe coughed on a mouthful of ice cream.
Oshitari raised an eyebrow and Yuuta tried to avoid his piercing gaze, trying to look at least a little innocent. He failed, but Atobe at least could see the funny side of it, smirking.
Yuuta realised there had been a line between he and Atobe before, and sometime since they'd met, they'd crossed it.
He'd thought he'd been able to pinpoint the moment things had changed, but he'd been wrong. It wasn't that there had been one single moment, but rather that sometime since they'd met, it had stopped just being about Atobe or just about him.
It was about the two of them together. It wasn't about anyone else; about what anyone else said or did or even what they thought.
It was Atobe and Yuuta and the fact that they liked each other and that was all that mattered. It was about them and it was a feeling no one could take from them.
Yuuta didn't think he could be any happier if he tried.
.fin.